Dioceses take steps on sexual misconduct
Two Roman Catholic dioceses just west of Pittsburgh are taking steps to reckon with the crisis of sexual abuse and misconduct by priests.
In the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, W.Va., a high-ranking cleric is stepping away from his administrative duties while a lay person takes over administration of the diocese.
That comes as a five-person investigative team has a mandate to “follow the truth wherever it leads” in the wake of the abrupt resignation earlier this month of Bishop Michael J. Bransfield. He faces allegations of sexual harassment of adults.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Steubenville, Ohio, meanwhile, has announced plans to release the names of priests past and present who have been removed from ministry because they were credibly accused of sexual abuse.
The goal is “transparency” and will involve checking records back to 1944, when the diocese was carved out of the Diocese of Columbus, said diocesan spokesman Dino Orsatti.
He said Bishop Jeffrey Monforton is also turning over information about these priests to prosecutors in the counties where the alleged offenses took place. The Steubenville Diocese covers 13 counties with a relatively small Catholic population of 34,000.
Mr. Orsatti added that the bishop would be open to any sort of investigation by authorities, including something similar to the Pennsylvania grand jury that released a report Aug. 14 on six dioceses.
In the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese, which covers all of West Virginia with a population of 75,000 Catholics, Baltimore Archbishop William Lori reported that more than three dozen calls have been placed to a diocesan hotline set up for people who have tips for the internal investigation.
Pope Francis on Sept. 14 appointed Archbishop Lori as apostolic administrator of the diocese until it gets a new bishop. Given his regular duties in Baltimore, Archbishop Lori appointed a lay person, Bryan Minor, the human resources director for the diocese, as his onsite delegate for administrative affairs.
At the same time, he said, he accepted the offer of Monsignor Fred Annie, who had been the diocese’s vicar general and moderator of its curia, “to step away from his duties in the chancery (church offices) during the entirety of the investigation into allegations concerning Bishop Bransfield.” Archbishop Lori’s statement did not elaborate on the reason for this move.
Archbishop Lori also appointed a five-member investigative team, including one non-Catholic. “My charge to the investigative team is simple: follow the truth wherever it leads,” Archbishop Lori wrote in a Sept. 25 letter to clergy. “That work has already begun.”